Great Barrier Reef in 'worst state since records began', scientists say

A tourist swims on the Great Barrier Reef (Reuters / HO / Great Barrier Reef National Park Authority) / Reuters

The Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s east coast is “in the worst state since records began” and in 40 years large swathes of coral structures will be replaced by seaweed and algae, scientists told a senate inquiry.

A senate committee heard from scientists from the Australian
Coral Reef Society and the University of Queensland, who gave
evidence before the first hearing of the inquiry in Brisbane,
Queensland, on Monday, reports the Australian Associated Press.

They are investigating how the Australian and Queensland
governments have been managing the reef, and will decide with
UNESCO next year if it should be listed as a world heritage site
in danger.

What the scientists told the inquiry was damning. The reef is no
longer rejuvenating as it once did and is facing new threats from
farm runoff, poor water quality, a Liquefied Natural Gas facility
on Curtiss Island and a massive dredging project to enlarge the
port at Abbott Point.

The Australian Coral Reef Society – the oldest organization in
the world that studies coral reefs – also said coral cover has
halved since the 1980s, when the reef was listed as a world
heritage asset.

Peter Mumby, the president of the Australian Coral Reef Society,
said that by 2050 there would be seaweed and algae where there
were once complex coral structures, as well as fewer fish.

“It will be pretty ugly. And the ability to earn a livelihood
will be vastly diminished. The reef is in the worst state it’s
ever been since records began,” he said.

Further compounding the problem was the fact that funding for the
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority had been cut and the
Commonwealth is also set to devolve all environmental approval
powers to individual states, meaning that plans for big projects
would only be given a hearing once.

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the director of the Global Change Institute
at the University of Queensland, said much more needs to be done
to protect the reef.

“The threats are escalating. It is time for a rethink. We are
living in a fantasy land,” he told the committee.

He also lamented the handing over of the environmental approval
processes to the government in Queensland.

“The original establishment of the marine park authority was
due to a need to take it out of the state level. This is an
ecosystem that is owned to some extent by the world. It seems at
every turn that we are trying to prove that we don't care about
that commitment made in 1981 (when the reef was World
Heritage-listed)," he said.

The hearing also heard from parties representing industry and
commerce who played down the dangers to the reef.

As part of the Abbot Point port expansion, up to three million
cubic meters of sand and silt will be dredged and then dumped
offshore inside the Great Barrier Reef marine park, albeit about
40 km from the nearest reef.

David Anderson, chief executive of Ports Australia, insisted that
offshore dumping was better for the environment than dumping the
spoil on land.

“We have been working with departments to ensure the World
Heritage Committee is provided with the most robust scientific
information. The sediment impacts of dredging are minor in
comparison to those from river discharges and cyclones,” he
said.

While Michael Roche, the chief executive of the Queensland
Resources Council, also insisted that dredging would not affect
the long term health of the reef and that its effects were
localized and temporary.

“Dredging is required to keep ports open and to expand. It
creates shipping channels, which is an important part of our
economic infrastructure as our railways and roads are. We are
asking the [Senate] committee to focus on the real facts and the
real science and not be distracted by a lot of the emotive
campaigns against the resources sector," he said.

But the committee questioned the size of the Abbott Point port
extension, which could have been reduced by transferring minerals
to ships based much further offshore. But this option was
ignored.

They also raised the aspiration of the Queensland government to
increase agriculture in the far north of the state. The watershed
around Cape York is currently undeveloped and this is one of the
main reasons why the adjacent coral reefs are in a good
condition.